FAQs and Resources for Dementia Patients’ Caregivers

FAQs and Resources for Dementia Patients’ Caregivers - #78

Caregivers of dementia patients are key members of the care team. Establishing a partnership with the caregiver and supporting them in their role improves the quality of life for both the caregiver and the dementia patient. Identifying caregiver questions and providing targeted resource/referrals is a key physician role. There is a wealth of excellent and evidence based resources for dementia caregivers – from answers to FAQs about what to expect as dementia progresses to training videos for care tasks – making referral a timely and effective approach to be used by any member of the health care team.

FAQ of Dementia Patient Caregivers:

1. Understanding Caregiving by Stage:

A. Questions:

What can I expect re: thinking and behavior at different times in this disease?

Many caregivers of dementia patients (77%) report they need more information about support services. (1) Your dementia patient’s functional history (e.g., number of activity of daily living impairments/dependencies) is often an indicator of how much work the caregiver is providing. This in turn can be a gauge of caregiver burnout risk. (2)

Clinicians’ ability to provide resources/referrals for dementia patient caregivers can improve the dementia patient’s quality of life. The caregiver’s quality of life IS associated with the dementia patient’s quality of life. (3) Supporting caregivers through psychoeducational interventions/referrals generally leads to positive outcomes for caregivers and delays institutionalization of care recipients. (4)